Red Sox Journal: After shaky start, Buchholz has got it all going on

Wednesday

Aug 15, 2012 at 7:21 PM

BALTIMORE — Remember when Clay Buchholz seemed one more bad start from being sent to the minors? Buchholz’s atrocious first six weeks of the season, during which the right-hander had an ERA north of eight, are a distant memory now.

TIM BRITTON

BALTIMORE — Remember when Clay Buchholz seemed one more bad start from being sent to the minors?

Buchholz’s atrocious first six weeks of the season, during which the right-hander had an ERA north of eight, are a distant memory now. Over his last five games, Buchholz has been every bit as good as he was bad back in April, sporting a 1.15 ERA in 39 innings.

“In a lot of aspects of the game, I feel as good as I ever have,” Buchholz said.

“Being able to put it to both sides of the plate consistently, having most of your pitches working in a night and if one of them isn’t working find another that does — that’s how I had to deal with things in 2010, and that’s sort of what I’m doing right now.”

Buchholz has referred to that tremendous 2010 season, which included a 2.33 ERA, on a few occasions this season. Often, it’s to discuss how balls in play aren’t finding holes are how well his defense is playing behind him.

But Buchholz’s stuff looks every bit as sharp now as it did back then. Further, he’s added a splitter to his repertoire to give him yet another weapon against opposing hitters.

“Confidence is rolling,” he said. “For the most part of the season, after the first five or six starts, I feel like I’ve been able to do what I want to do with the ball even if the results haven’t been what I want them to be. It’s a process.”

Despite how well he’s pitched and how mediocre Jon Lester and Josh Beckett have been throughout the season, Buchholz still doesn’t view himself as the ace of the Red Sox rotation.

“There’s too many other guys on this staff that have been around a lot longer than I have,” he said. “As far as the ace thing goes, everybody on the starting staff has the ability to go out and throw well for months in a row. That’s what everybody’s trying to do.”

Gonzalez grounded out to second on the 1-2 pitch in question. Upon returning to the dugout, he barked at home-plate umpire Mike Everitt, who eventually ejected him. At that point, Valentine emerged to argue the call some more, eventually getting tossed himself.

Typically, a pitcher coming out of the stretch has to come to a complete stop with his hands before pitching. That’s not the case with nobody on base, as in Gonzalez’s at-bat. However, the umpire can rule a quick pitch if, according to Rule 8.01(b), “a pitcher delivers the ball in a deliberate effort to catch the batter off guard.”

That was Gonzalez’s contention.

“I wasn’t ready to hit. That’s what I went back to tell Mike,” he said. “There needs to be a universal interpretation of it. It can’t be up to each individual umpire’s discretion. The rule needs to be stated better because obviously I wasn’t even set. I was just sitting there waiting for him to come set so I can get into my stance.”

The penalty for a quick pitch is a ball. If a pitcher doesn’t come to a stop with men on base, it’s a balk. Franklin Morales was called for one earlier this season.

Gonzalez vented his frustration to Everitt.

“As I went back, I just said I wasn’t ready to hit. Don’t take the at-bat away from me,” he said. “I just said, ‘Mikey, you stink.’ Maybe I shouldn’t have said that.”

Valentine considers quick pitches dangerous.

“If the hitter’s not ready and the ball’s at his head, he’s not going to be able to get out of the way,” Valentine said. “A lot of guys are using it now. I think it’s very dangerous, especially with a guy throwing 97.”

“There’s a few pitchers that do it, but sometimes they call it a ball, sometimes they don’t,” continued Gonzalez. “So that’s my argument to it: It should be universal. Either it’s always allowed, or it’s always a ball. It can’t be some guys say it’s allowed, some guys say it’s not.”

No progress for Ortiz

At this point, the Red Sox don’t know when — or even if — David Ortiz is going to return to the lineup.

Ortiz said on Wednesday that he’s still a few days away from running, and that he won’t even be hitting over that stretch.

“I have no idea about David coming back,” Valentine said. “I pray that he is.”

“They shut me down for the next couple of days,” said Ortiz. “Every time I was running, I was getting sore. That’s now what we’re looking for. We’re looking to take a step forward instead of a step back. Now we’re going through some things and I’m starting to feel better.”

Felix Doubront is slated to return to the rotation sometime next week when the Red Sox are back at Fenway Park for a seven-game homestand with the Angels and Royals.

Boston elected to skip Doubront’s turn in the rotation on Wednesday night, using Aaron Cook instead to give the young left-hander some extra rest. Doubront has thrown 1222/3 innings this season, or just 62/3 frames shy of his career high as a professional.

With Cook available as a sixth starter now that Morales has been moved into the rotation, the Red Sox figured they should take advantage of the surplus.

Boston will have Morales, Lester and Beckett pitch over the weekend at Yankee Stadium. They have another off-day on Monday before the start of that homestand. Valentine didn’t say when Doubront would start. He also didn’t make clear whether that start would come at Cook’s expense.

In the meantime, Doubront is throwing his usual bullpen sessions to stay sharp. Valentine said last week that the lefty could be used out of the bullpen, but only “out of necessity.”

Rarity for Podsednik

With Cody Ross starting at designated hitter on Wednesday night, Scott Podsednik made his first start in right field since 2009.

Podsednik has plenty of experience in center and left field, having started over 350 games at each spot. But only 11 of his previous 869 starts had ever come in right field — and nine of those came before 2004.

“I hadn’t played a lot in right. I’m probably the most uncomfortable in right,” Podsednik said back in May. “Left and center are probably my two most comfortable positions.”

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